Moore's Law irrelevant, says AMD's Ruiz

HECTOR RUIZ, AMD's new and somewhat unebullient CEO, told the LA Times yesterday that he thinks Moore's Law is now irrelevant.

Instead, Ruiz told the newspaper, he's a follower of Metcalf's Law, which apparently states that the use of a device rises exponentially based on the number of other devices connected to it.

Ruiz used the analogy of one fax machine being useless but more than one being very useful - an odd analogy perhaps for a firm that sells CPUs and flash memories.

He said in the interview that AMD is currently in beancounter mode and making sure it's not distracted from its core business.

In fact, we hear that AMD has put a freeze on hiring more staff throughout the company, in an attempt to batten down the hatches.

It's not alone in that - Intel will lose staff this year through attrition - those called JohnXDoe, which means they're contractors or temps, will simply fade away.

Ruiz is cautious about the future of the semiconductor industry and said that everyone hopes a recovery will start next year.

You can find the interview here. µ